Ashaway 100% Zyex monofilament

i need a soft upper stringbed as i break strings at the 6th cross top down. therefore all my encounters (have been only 3!) with poly/co-poly crosses have been a disaster, no matter how low i have gone on the poly (down to 18kg with 22kg on the multi mains - never played gut mains / poly-crosses!).

i am on one hand quite confident that the zx is a good cross string for poly mains, but due to the raving reviews on gut mains / poly crosses, i'm rather inclined to give this a go with what i have at hand, i mean gut mains and zx crosses, than trying poly mains and zx crosses for now.

it is very likely that i will order another set and then i will surely try out poly mains / zx crosses. i'm also waiting for the zx pro to become available, i think the thinner diameter would be even better as a cross.

i just wonder what the durability will turn out to be. with poly mains i'm currently at around 6hitting hours, the last stringtest i did with gamma poly z 1.25 was the absolute disaster, not only due to the poor qualities of the string but also due to the fact that the mains broke in about 2.5hrs, which is absolutely unacceptable.

I'm going to re-use some used ZX as a cross to see how it plays. With its supposed elasticity and high/low dynamic stiffness it may work (or it may not). Even if its stiffer due to the stretching, I doubt that I will mind. It's also a bit pricey to throw away when the poly mains goes dead or loses too much tension as the ZX crosses still seem to be performing quite well.

String doesn't look in bad condition. Only very minor indentations (this was from a 6 hour poly/ZX hybrid), no sawing or obvious significant wear, just alot of 90 degree kinks where the string has bent nuerous times through the grommets and frame....also ZX on ZX seems to produce more string wear than round poly mains on ZX crosses. I don't see any significant abrasion (though obviously there probably will be some, though I'd need a magnifying glass).

Also had a hit yesterday with the full bed brown ZX that I strung up a week ago at the higher original reference tension of 56lbs. Plays pretty well. Stringbed is slighlty spongier compared to what it was like off the stringer but not significantly so. Tension maintenance / consistent SBS seems to be very good (certainly significantly better than a nylon string or poly).

I'm going to re-use some used ZX as a cross to see how it plays. With its supposed elasticity and high/low dynamic stiffness it may work (or it may not). Even if its stiffer due to the stretching, I doubt that I will mind. It's also a bit pricey to throw away when the poly goes dead or loses too much tension.

String doesn't look in bad condition. Only very minor indentations (this was from a 6 hour poly/ZX hybrid), no sawing or obvious significant wear, just alot of 90 degree kinks where the string has bent nuerous times through the grommets and frame....also ZX on ZX seems to produce more string wear than round poly mains on ZX crosses. I don't see any significant abrasion (though obviously there probably will be some, though I'd need a magnifying glass).

Also had a hit yesterday with the full bed brown ZX that I strung up a week ago at the higher original reference tension of 56lbs. Plays pretty well. Stringbed is slighlty spongier compared to what it was like off the stringer but not significantly so. Tension maintenance / consistent SBS seems to be very good (certainly significantly better than a nylon string or poly).

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Good idea Torres. We had a mini-debate on here a while back, which kind of hinged on the question of what would happen to "dead" copoly strings if they were re-strung to their original tension and played with again. Well, in the TW Professor's latest paper we pretty much got an answer. After hundreds of impacts and significant tension loss, re-tensioning the same string did not result in a loss of resilience and elasticity. If anything, the string showed greater energy return than it did the first time it was strung. So if the string surface is still smooth, it should perform well. But you might want to re-string it a little looser, because as you note, it will play a little stiffer initially and then also lose less tension than it did the first time. So overall it will be a bit stiffer during it's "second life."

Good idea Torres. We had a mini-debate on here a while back, which kind of hinged on the question of what would happen to "dead" copoly strings if they were re-strung to their original tension and played with again. Well, in the TW Professor's latest paper we pretty much got an answer. After hundreds of impacts and significant tension loss, re-tensioning the same string did not result in a loss of resilience and elasticity. If anything, the string showed greater energy return than it did the first time it was strung. So if the string surface is still smooth, it should perform well. But you might want to re-string it a little looser, because as you note, it will play a little stiffer initially and then also lose less tension than it did the first time. So overall it will be a bit stiffer during it's "second life."

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Interestingly, I strung up my diablo mid with 18g kevlar mains an 16g tournament poly at 47 lbs, with both strings thoroughly stretched to 4" longer than unstretched (for a 17.5' segment) with my home-built pre-stretch device. The stringbed did not play that much like a kevlar/poly bed normally does. It was softer, more powerful, and spinniness through the roof. If you didn't look at the strings, you would not have guessed that it had kevlar in there - I would describe it as extremely lively, certainly not the usual dead feeling of unstretched fresh kevlar (energy return is obviously enhanced by the pre-stretch). My usual tension with these strings in that frame was 45 lbs - so I expected it to feel stiffer, but it turned out to be softer. I will probably bump it up to 50 next time, even though I really enjoyed the heaviness of the groundies and power on the serve.

I'm going to re-use some used ZX as a cross to see how it plays. With its supposed elasticity and high/low dynamic stiffness it may work (or it may not). Even if its stiffer due to the stretching, I doubt that I will mind. It's also a bit pricey to throw away when the poly mains goes dead or loses too much tension as the ZX crosses still seem to be performing quite well.

String doesn't look in bad condition. Only very minor indentations (this was from a 6 hour poly/ZX hybrid), no sawing or obvious significant wear, just alot of 90 degree kinks where the string has bent nuerous times through the grommets and frame....also ZX on ZX seems to produce more string wear than round poly mains on ZX crosses. I don't see any significant abrasion (though obviously there probably will be some, though I'd need a magnifying glass).

Interestingly, I strung up my diablo mid with 18g kevlar mains an 16g tournament poly at 47 lbs, with both strings thoroughly stretched to 4" longer than unstretched (for a 17.5' segment) with my home-built pre-stretch device. The stringbed did not play that much like a kevlar/poly bed normally does. It was softer, more powerful, and spinniness through the roof. If you didn't look at the strings, you would not have guessed that it had kevlar in there - I would describe it as extremely lively, certainly not the usual dead feeling of unstretched fresh kevlar (energy return is obviously enhanced by the pre-stretch). My usual tension with these strings in that frame was 45 lbs - so I expected it to feel stiffer, but it turned out to be softer. I will probably bump it up to 50 next time, even though I really enjoyed the heaviness of the groundies and power on the serve.

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Very strange. The various data we have from TWU on pre-stretched strings shows that they lose less tension after being strung and so end up stiffer and with greater energy return. But your experience seems to be that they are softer. But you also found them very spin-friendly. I wonder if the lateral sliding and snapback was somehow boosted, which might reduce shock enough to make them feel softer. What do you think?

Very strange. The various data we have from TWU on pre-stretched strings shows that they lose less tension after being strung and so end up stiffer and with greater energy return. But your experience seems to be that they are softer. But you also found them very spin-friendly. I wonder if the lateral sliding and snapback was somehow boosted, which might reduce shock enough to make them feel softer. What do you think?

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I just re-strung the Diablo with same string, but upped the tension to 51 lbs - will test Wed night.
It feels quite clear that pre-stretching increases the snapback effect. Doing such a thorough pre-stretch basically creates a string with a completely different set of properties. String types that normally lose a lot of energy on each impact behave almost perfectly elastically. My perception is that it makes kevlar at low tension play like gut at high tension, and it makes poly at low tension play like ZX monogut at high tension.

Time to finally playtest this bad boy Corners and stop talking numbers.

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LOL. I ain't never gonna stop talkin' numbers, baby!

So three weeks ago it finally looked like Spring had come to Siberia. Woke up and found a warm sun had melted the snow off grass and asphalt. Went for a long walk, got back home, grabbed a couple frames and hit my first balls of the season against the wall at our local park. Returned home, cut the strings out of two sticks in preparation for ZX. Went back to the courts in the afternoon to have a light hit with my wife. The north wind returned. We hit through a light drizzle as heavy clouds rolled in, and left as sleet began to make the courts slick. Since then we've had two feet of snow, another five inches just last night. God willing, as they say, I will play tennis again some day.

I just re-strung the Diablo with same string, but upped the tension to 51 lbs - will test Wed night.
It feels quite clear that pre-stretching increases the snapback effect. Doing such a thorough pre-stretch basically creates a string with a completely different set of properties. String types that normally lose a lot of energy on each impact behave almost perfectly elastically. My perception is that it makes kevlar at low tension play like gut at high tension, and it makes poly at low tension play like ZX monogut at high tension.

So three weeks ago it finally looked like Spring had come to Siberia. Woke up and found a warm sun had melted the snow off grass and asphalt. Went for a long walk, got back home, grabbed a couple frames and hit my first balls of the season against the wall at our local park. Returned home, cut the strings out of two sticks in preparation for ZX. Went back to the courts in the afternoon to have a light hit with my wife. The north wind returned. We hit through a light drizzle as heavy clouds rolled in, and left as sleet began to make the courts slick. Since then we've had two feet of snow, another five inches just last night. God willing, as they say, I will play tennis again some day.

Current favorite setups are VS/4G 1.25 and VS/Pre-Stretched Focus Hex, both at 57/52.

For this test I'm thinking VS Longevity / Zyex Mono 16g at 57/55. Does that sound about right to get a similar stringbed?

The purpose of this test is to see if the Zyex Mono provides a comparably low friction, spin-friendly setup like Gut/Poly but with even more comfort and less tension loss.

What about pre-stretching the Zyex? On paper it seems to have a high tension loss, at least compared to something like natural gut and 4G.

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You will be pleasantly surprised how well the stringbed maintains tension. The tension loss numbers alone do not tell you how well the stringbed maintains tension. They have to be considered in conjunction with dynamic stiffness - where ZX scores very well.

We have had some positive feedback of players prestretching this string. The main reason to prestretch with ZX is not to get better tension maintenance, but to mute the response. For some players who are used to Poly strings and want to swing away, unstretched ZX is just too lively.

You will be pleasantly surprised how well the stringbed maintains tension. The tension loss numbers alone do not tell you how well the stringbed maintains tension. They have to be considered in conjunction with dynamic stiffness - where ZX scores very well.

We have had some positive feedback of players prestretching this string. The main reason to prestretch with ZX is not to get better tension maintenance, but to mute the response. For some players who are used to Poly strings and want to swing away, unstretched ZX is just too lively.

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Thanks for the advice Julian! Since I enjoy the muted response of 4G crosses I'll definitely pre-stretch the ZX then. I've placed my order and hope to have the ZX by this weekend.

In another thread I read that another TT member disliked ZX's liveliness and that is a concern of mine with this string. However, I've also used full natural gut with these frames and wasn't disappointed. My hope is that the ZX crosses provide the same level of comfort and control as natural gut crosses but also superior spin potential due to a lower CoF between the gut mains and ZX crosses. 4G's string CoF is very close to ZX's. Hopefully this will prove true.

My hope is that the ZX crosses provide the same level of comfort and control as natural gut crosses but also superior spin potential due to a lower CoF between the gut mains and ZX crosses. 4G's string CoF is very close to ZX's. Hopefully this will prove true.

If that's your favourite setup, then you're just wasting your time with ZX because its nothing like 4G.

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Yes, in terms of stiffness that's certainly true. And perhaps in terms of comfort. Everything's a trade-off with strings.

I'm just curious if I might like ZX in spite of its low stiffness.

I liked 4G in spite of its high stiffness, so you never know if you don't give it a try.

Here's what it would take for me to drop 4G and/or pre-stretched Hex in favor of ZX: I'd have to get enough control to pull off my favorite touch shots; enough spin to drive the ball down into the court when hitting hard, especially on returns; and enough comfort.

If I can't hit my targets, generate enough spin relative to power to keep the ball in, or it's uncomfortable, then I'd not switch. On paper it's probably very comfortable. And it's slippery enough that it probably rivals 4G.

Just played tonight with Wilson NG in mains and ZX Pro in crosses. Strung both at 51 lbs. Stiff feel but did not bother my sensitive arm. Quite a bit of string movement. Excellent power and spin which was on par with the usual Co-Focus cross. Like this combo quite a bit and I'm interested in seeing what happens in subsequent play tests. If the string plays like this for an extended period of time, this will be my new combination.

Just played tonight with Wilson NG in mains and ZX Pro in crosses. Strung both at 51 lbs. Stiff feel but did not bother my sensitive arm. Quite a bit of string movement. Excellent power and spin which was on par with the usual Co-Focus cross. Like this combo quite a bit and I'm interested in seeing what happens in subsequent play tests. If the string plays like this for an extended period of time, this will be my new combination.

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Do you mean the gut was sliding and snapping back? Or was it getting stuck out of line?

Just played tonight with Wilson NG in mains and ZX Pro in crosses. Strung both at 51 lbs. Stiff feel but did not bother my sensitive arm. Quite a bit of string movement. Excellent power and spin which was on par with the usual Co-Focus cross. Like this combo quite a bit and I'm interested in seeing what happens in subsequent play tests. If the string plays like this for an extended period of time, this will be my new combination.

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String movement: slide and snap back or messy string bed as strings get stuck in place after moving while hitting?

How was control? Did you have to take pace off your stroke or could you swing out?

String movement: slide and snap back or messy string bed as strings get stuck in place after moving while hitting?

How was control? Did you have to take pace off your stroke or could you swing out?

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Messy string bed. I thought the control was quite good. I was able to get consistent depth. I was able to swing out but i must admit that I do not swing for the fences on every shot. I tend to rally deep with a medium paced ball, go for some angles then swing harder on a shorter ball and try to finish a point with a volley. Bigger hitters may want a higher tension but I liked the feel. Also, I forgot to mention that I intermittently felt a buzzing particularly when hitting high on the frame.

Thanks PigPen. I suspect that at 51 pounds in that frame the ZX crosses might not be tight enough, and therefore not stiff enough, to serve as effective "rails" for the gut mains to slide upon. Just guessing though. Travlerajm has found his kevlar mains to be snapping back into line nicely on ZX crosses, but at higher tension.

Messy string bed. I thought the control was quite good. I was able to get consistent depth. I was able to swing out but i must admit that I do not swing for the fences on every shot. I tend to rally deep with a medium paced ball, go for some angles then swing harder on a shorter ball and try to finish a point with a volley. Bigger hitters may want a higher tension but I liked the feel. Also, I forgot to mention that I intermittently felt a buzzing particularly when hitting high on the frame.

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We must have been separated at birth, that's how I hit in competitive play. I stay conservative hitting crosscourt at reasonable pace but focused on depth until I get an "opportunity ball" and only then do I go for a hard topspin winner...or I just wait until my opponent misses.

We must have been separated at birth, that's how I hit in competitive play. I stay conservative hitting crosscourt at reasonable pace but focused on depth until I get an "opportunity ball" and only then do I go for a hard topspin winner...or I just wait until my opponent misses.

That's disappointing about the 'permanent' string movement.

Did you happen to pre-stretch? How was comfort?

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That would be quite a match if we ever played. Do you play USTA?

My stringer did pre-stretch as I took Torres' advice on how to deal with the ZX string. Comfort was excellent. I currently have golfer's elbow for the first time (I believe it was from trying different polys) and felt no additional pain with the gut/ZX combo.

My stringer did pre-stretch as I took Torres' advice on how to deal with the ZX string. Comfort was excellent. I currently have golfer's elbow for the first time (I believe it was from trying different polys) and felt no additional pain with the gut/ZX combo.

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No, we don't have a USTA men's team at our club and nobody's interested given how they schedule matches. They start at 4:00 on Sundays which conflicts with Sunday night dinner for families. And their men's season is concurrent with ALTA mixed doubles and most men at our club play mixed with spouses and don't want to play on Saturday and Sunday.

For singles we use flex leagues which are so numerous they balkanize the community resulting in longer drive times. In Atlanta it's pretty much ALTA for doubles (which I don't play) and flex leagues for singles.

I've used the Klippermate Zyex string. Its an interesting string. Its power is kind of inversely proportional to how fast you swing. In other words, a slow swing gives you power, but the power drops off the faster you swing.

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So, at the upper limit, if you swing at near-infinite speed, the ball falls weakly off the string bed and lands near your feet. At the lower limit, if you just stick the racket out there and block the ball without swinging at all, the ball rockets off the strings and darn near goes into orbit.

Newtonian physics and all that jazz about conservation of energy just do not apply to this material.

Do you think MonoGut ZX would work well for all the different ability levels?

SC: Absolutely. I think it has the potential to add value for players at all levels. The first and foremost beneficiaries would be junior and senior players who don’t hit so hard—really, any players who have medium to low swing speeds. This is because even at lower swing speeds, MonoGut ZX offers tremendous power and comfort. It’s much more user friendly. At the club and even the pro level, it translates into being able to play a more varied game. These players don’t have to just play a baseline, hard-hitting, topspin game. They can play more serve-and-volley because of the extremely crisp pace of the ball, and they can modify their swings, using a greater variety of strokes and angles. So it can add a lot of variety to their game. And, of course, it’s easier on their arms as well. Polyester has been called natural gut on steroids. We think MonoGut ZX is like natural gut on sale.

After ~22h, the kevlar/ZX bed is finally starting to get a little soft for my tastes.

Control is still not bad, but it's a little "hot". Power level is higher, and spin potential is higher. It has that dense-pattern, lowish tension feel now. Strings are still straight (snapping back into position). Kevlar is starting to look pretty chewed up, and ZX is still smooth.

I enjoy that the extra spin makes it much easier to get good sideways kick on the twist serve (something that I noticed was difficult to do when this bed was fresher), but the extra softness means I have to focus a a little more when lining up my groundies and be aware that the an uppercut swingpath will produce a higher rebound angle requiring a more closed face. There's just a little less precision than before.

This type of stringbed softening is what leads me to cut out kevlar/poly too, but the kevlar/ZX took about 4 times as long to get to this point.

After ~22h, the kevlar/ZX bed is finally starting to get a little soft for my tastes.

Control is still not bad, but it's a little "hot". Power level is higher, and spin potential is higher. It has that dense-pattern, lowish tension feel now. Strings are still straight (snapping back into position). Kevlar is starting to look pretty chewed up, and ZX is still smooth.

I enjoy that the extra spin makes it much easier to get good sideways kick on the twist serve (something that I noticed was difficult to do when this bed was fresher), but the extra softness means I have to focus a a little more when lining up my groundies and be aware that the an uppercut swingpath will produce a higher rebound angle requiring a more closed face. There's just a little less precision than before.

This type of stringbed softening is what leads me to cut out kevlar/poly too, but the kevlar/ZX took about 4 times as long to get to this point.

Messy string bed. I thought the control was quite good. I was able to get consistent depth. I was able to swing out but i must admit that I do not swing for the fences on every shot. I tend to rally deep with a medium paced ball, go for some angles then swing harder on a shorter ball and try to finish a point with a volley. Bigger hitters may want a higher tension but I liked the feel. Also, I forgot to mention that I intermittently felt a buzzing particularly when hitting high on the frame.

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PigPen,

My ZX order arrived this morning and based on my initial examination of the string your comments make complete sense.

It's smooth but not "glassy" smooth like Focus Hex and other co-polys. It doesn't even feel as slick as some multis such as TNT2.

Looking at it under glancing light you can see tiny ripples or waves in the surface which are not present in glassy polys.

And if you do a "squish test" by rubbing the coils together en masse they have a gummy, squeaky sound to them, much like that old Monty Python skit in which a man in a latex suit is interviewed while sitting on a vinyl chair (hilarity ensues as his replies are drowned out every time he shifts in his seat). When you do the same thing to a glassy smooth co-poly with a hard surface the sound is completely different and the coils slip across one another freely without that gummy feel.

I think this might work as a cheap alternative to natural gut mains in a hybrid with co-poly crosses. My son is undefeated this season and his team appears headed toward playoffs. He currently has OGSM mains and CoFocus crosses which we used as a cheap test to see if he liked the racquet (modified AG 4D 300) and never got around to replacing the strings before his season started. We're not going to mess with his setup now but we might test ZX / CoFocus in his frame after his season is over. The OGSM is pretty good but also stiff, at least compared to natural gut.

I think this might work as a cheap alternative to natural gut mains in a hybrid with co-poly crosses.

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FYI, that's the least favored configuration by players posting playtest reports in this thread. If you're going to do it, though, you might want to look at flat copolys like Gosen Polymaster II (very soft) for the cross.

FYI, that's the least favored configuration by players posting playtest reports in this thread. If you're going to do it, though, you might want to look at flat copolys like Gosen Polymaster II (very soft) for the cross.

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Thanks for the heads up!

Could you summarize why it was least favorite? Haven't had a chance to peruse the many pages of the thread.

tomorrow is show-time!
just strung up a stick with my reference set-up of mantis power poly mains and mantis comfort synthetic crosses and another stick with ashaway monogut zx (natural) mains and mcs crosses, everything at 21kg (~46 lbs.). will let them rest as usually for 24hrs and then take them to the court to be court-martialled.

first two observations are that in spite of the reports about the monogut stretching that much, i needed just about 20cm more of the mpp to string the mains, and the mpp comes as a rather stiff poly according to twu-data.

just by the sound the stringbed makes, the monogut zx stringbed seems to be softer as the sound of the mpp-stringbed is higher pitched. i'm pretty mad that my son ruined the iphone which is currently at repair, so that i can't use racquettune, but such is life.

We must have been separated at birth, that's how I hit in competitive play. I stay conservative hitting crosscourt at reasonable pace but focused on depth until I get an "opportunity ball" and only then do I go for a hard topspin winner...or I just wait until my opponent misses.

That's disappointing about the 'permanent' string movement.

Did you happen to pre-stretch? How was comfort?

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Sounds like me too!

My set of ZX 1.27mm in natural arrived yesterday, I'll be stringing it in my 200Lite ASAP. I usually string polys like Silverstring and Scorpion around 50lbs and PSGD 16 at 55lbs and find it's about right.

I'm thinking 52lbs for this full bed, should I reduce the cross string tension like have at times with polys?

torres,
it could be too low, but don't get me wrong - inspired by your description that it somehow resembles a soft poly, i decided (i assume the full responsability) to go with what i usually string my poly mains at.

today i played one hour with my wife (she's basically a beginner but able to control the ball pretty well if i play the balls so she hasn't got to move too much) and i could not withstand the temptation to get those two freshly strung sticks out for a little bit of volleying with her. the mpp/mcs combo performed just as i have come to know and love it and i must say that the mgzx/mcs combo was, while different in touch, very encouraging. i still had pretty good precision and some of the balls i had to dig out of my shoelaces were still going on target. there was a certain ease in playing, a little bit more powerful than the mpp/mcs but also "sweeter" on offcenterhits, when i had to stretch out to reach the ball.

tomorrow i'm going to play my son in the morning and then in the afternoon i have a practice session with two team-mates, so these two sticks will get a proper beating for about 1.5-2hrs each. i'm really looking forward to it.

i'm playing modded mantis 300's. current specs strung are 336g static, 32,7cm balance and around 360sw.

i need a softer stringbed in the upper hoop and i tweaked around for quite a while until i found that i'm most happy with the mcs at 21kg in the crosses. as a matter of fact, i go down to 20,5kg on the first six crosses top-down - gives a "sweeter" response of the stringbed in the upper hoop and makes even stiff strings like the solinco tour bite playable for me.

inspired by your description that it somehow resembles a soft poly, i decided (i assume the full responsability) to go with what i usually string my poly mains at.

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If it were me (and I fully appreciate that everyone has different prefences), I'd be stringing ZX at soft co-poly *normal range* tension ie no super low tension stuff if I was stringing ZX as a full bed. Ditto if I was stringing ZX as a cross with poly mains. ZX mains, soft multi crosses isn't something I have experience of!

So far (after 20 minutes under 40-lbs constant tension), the ZX is creeping at more than twice the rate of Prince Tournament Poly. I'm curious to see if it continues to creep at a higher rate than the poly, or if it will plateau and have a different shaped creep curve than the poly.

my idea about stringing this rather "unusual" combination is that i might get that "sweeter" upper stringbed i'm basically needing. i managed to soften up polys with the mcs enough to make them playable for me in this stiff stick i really like (played the nblade 106 before, so that is quite an almost 180° turn).

from what i've read so far, it is rather unlikely that the mgzx will soften up the stringbed more than the mcs does, so that taking a poly in the mains and putting the mgzx into the crosses is rather unlikely to give me what i'm looking for. of course, putting the mgzx into the crosses would also need to come along with lowering the tension to at least 20kg, if not even 19kg while keeping the mains at 21kg. but for this experiment i would rather wait for the zx pro to become available, i think the thinner diameter would be better suited for this job in the crosses to poly for instance.